Location: with 2 kids in high school they tell her that she's uncool, but she's still preoccupied with 1985

Posts: 906

Local Time: 02:53 PM

I'm very disappointed it seems so many democrats just jumped on the bandwagon and he ran away with it before any of the other candidates had a chance. I don't like him, and I won't vote for him. I said before if it comes between him and Bush I won't vote. Well, you'd better hope I don't because I'd choose Bush over Kerry. What a shame we couldn't have better choices.

Beware everyone who wants to get rid of Bush. Don't vote for just anything just to get rid of him, we could be out of the frying pan into the fire. So maybe Kerry doesn't want the war, but what else is he for or against? Will he lead us to virtual socialism? That's my worry.

This may be stupid, but...don't you have the option of voting "none of the above" - ie you don't support any of the candidates? Or can't you show up to vote and then just spoil the ballot paper so you haven't voted for a candidate you don't like but you won't get fined for failing to vote?

I was wondering that as well.

And, this may be even more stupid , but are all ballots paper ballots in Australia?

Disclaimer: I AM an American.

This is from the local newspaper in the county where I went to university:

"Carney said that overall most voters were able to use the write-in process with few problems. There were occasional voters who wrote their candidate's name on the machine rather than paper provided behind a screen that opened on the voting machine when the write-in option was taken by the voter."

It's a dry county and public intoxication laws are VERY heavily enforced, so these people probably can't claim being drunk as an excuse.

Compulsory voting just wouldn't work in the U.S. No matter who the candidates are there would be people who think the candidates suck too much to vote for them. Some people don't like Kerry. Alot of my leftie friends like Kucinich and that's it, they didn't like any of the other candidates. I don't think Kerry will "lead us into socialism", he's not *that* leftist. There are people who supported Clark who don't want Kerry, etc, etc. Some people were very pissed when a Clark listserver turned into a Kerry listserver after the endorsement. There was such a stink that the owner changed it back to a Clark list and started another Kerry group. This sort of thing would happen if Edwards won, people wouldn't support him, same for any candidate.
P.S. I am from the States, because of my location thing some people think I'm from Turkey! I'm not. That's a protest against the Istanbul terror attacks.

Something that is an option for the people who don't like either of the major party candidates is the "write-in" option. You can just write in your choice on your ballot. That way you get to vote but you don't have to vote for anyone you honestly don't like. I can see why people would not want to vote for either of the major party candidates, and I don't like it that our system is so rigid that there are two candidates in the media and stuff and that's it. For this reason I really wish we had a parliamentary form of government, but that's not going to happen. Oh well. Kucinich would be a good lefty alternative if that's what you're looking for. Kucinich is the candidate I "matched" with the most on that matching test that anitram posted. I like him, also Edwards, but I am in Kerry's campaign now. I don't have any trouble with this. Some of my best friends do however. They don't like Kerry's vote for the war and other stuff.

Originally posted by verte76 Something that is an option for the people who don't like either of the major party candidates is the "write-in" option. You can just write in your choice on your ballot.

That's why I was arguing that compulsory voting could work in the US.

Whether or not I do a write-in will depend on the candidates filing a declaration of intent.

Kucinich is okay, but I don't think I would vote for him...though of the major party candidates, I agreed with him the most (and he doesn't bother me nearly as much as Al Sharpton!). I didn't like any of the Democratic contenders, though.

Originally posted by Seabird Will he lead us to virtual socialism? That's my worry.

Are you serious?

Let me tell you as somebody who was born in a socialist country that there is nothing even mildly socialist about Kerry. It's simply absurd. He's not even leftist at all, except according to American standards.

I hate it that barely 50% of the U.S. electorate even bothers to vote. But I have to think that it's the rigidity of our electoral system that contributes to this as much as anything. A friend of mine from Canada, and many others, believe that the Democrats and Republicans are both right-wing parties, and that one is just more right-wing than the others. We don't have the equivalent of a Labor or Social Democratic Party like they do in Europe, Canada, Australia, and I'm probably leaving someone out. The Democratic nominee is always too conservative for some voters and too liberal for others. Turkey certainly has its flaws as a democracy--their military is very powerful, they have the Ethnic Problems from Hell due to repressive laws, but they did vote for a minority party to head its government in 2002. The majority of the voters didn't support an establishment party because they thought the big parties were corrupt, so they put a small party in and they are now the government. They have a parliamentary form of government. I just wish we had more flexibility as per parties and voting here.

Let me tell you as somebody who was born in a socialist country that there is nothing even mildly socialist about Kerry. It's simply absurd. He's not even leftist at all, except according to American standards.

Let me tell you as somebody who was born in a socialist country that there is nothing even mildly socialist about Kerry. It's simply absurd. He's not even leftist at all, except according to American standards.

Correct. He's only leftist within the context of the major political parties, which are both pretty conservative because the U.S. is a conservative country. We don't have the equivalent of a leftist party here, the way they do in Canada (New Democratic Party), Europe (Labour, Social Democrats) and others. Plenty of my lefty friends think Kerry is too conservative and won't vote for him for that reason. Just go to Kucinich's site and check out why he's still in the race. I am not saying that Kucinich is a socialist, he's not, but he's someone who's criticizing Kerry from the left.

The key issue determining whether or not Bush is re-elected is THE ECONOMY. Over 2 million people have lost jobs since he took office. Considering Bush lost by 500,000 some odd votes, those 2 million people are going to determine who wins this election. I highly doubt they will vote for a guy that in-effect lost their jobs, so I'd say Kerry has a decent change of winning.

I, however, don't fully support John Kerry. There were at least a dozen other candidates I valued higher than Kerry, and those were just the democrats. Clark would have been a great president and would have kicked Bush's ass in the debates, morality and patriotic factors. I don't care if the polls said he'd lose in a head to head election. As we should all know by know, the media controls the image of candidates and the media felt Kerry was the go-to guy after he manhandled those little splinters of Iowa and New Hampshire...as if they represented the pulse of the nation? Kucinich was and I guess still is a good choice, and so it Sharpton if you look at the issues and ignore his unique and honest portrayl of America...I know his words and his vocal tone make THE WHITE MAN nervous, but I'm a white man and I love the guy!

Originally posted by Seabird Beware everyone who wants to get rid of Bush. Don't vote for just anything just to get rid of him, we could be out of the frying pan into the fire.

I don't think we can do much worse than a lying, warmongering homophobic religious fanatic whose domestic policy is non-existent and whose foreign policy is dependent on the "potential" for another terrorist strike. Sorry to say, but the potential is never going to go away, as long as people have free will.

I will vote for anyone just to get rid of Bush, and Kerry fits the mold.